14 maturc'6 /HMraclee. 



this compound and precipitating it into the 

 great limestone strata that are everywhere 

 found. 



Carbonate of lime is found in solution in 

 nearly, if not quite, all of the mineral waters, 

 and is also found in the water of the ocean. 

 In earlier times it must have been held in so- 

 lution in much greater quantities than at pres- 

 ent. The myriads of sea animals that existed, 

 and that still exist, gathered from the water 

 this substance, which formed their shells, and 

 served as a house in which they lived. New 

 germs were continually forming new shells, 

 while the older ones ceased to live as animals, 

 and their houses in which they lived were pre- 

 cipitated to the bottom of the ocean, where 

 they were bound together as limestone rock. 

 These sea animals no doubt caused a much 

 more rapid formation of limestone than would 

 or could have been the case without their 

 existence. 



One can thus readily see what an important 

 factor animal life has been in the process of 

 world-building. This process is still going on, 

 but probably not to the same extent as in for- 

 mer ages, because it is not likely that there is 

 so much carbonate of lime held in solution as 

 there was before these great limestone beds 

 were formed. Limestone, however, is easily 

 disintegrated by the action of water. We find 

 the spring water impregnated with it as well 



